Madame Angela

New FTK Executive Director Angela visited the Children's Village yesterday and got to meet quite a few of the young guys and girls. As always, everyone loved having their photo taken.

Angela is here this week to meet with our staff and help us plan for the challenges ahead. She grew up in northern Haiti and speaks Creole fluently; it's a pleasure having her here. Welcome back, Angela!

Saturday Morning

Every Saturday morning the boys here comb our grounds for trash and fallen leaves - our own little "Clean Brigade." 

Chicken Coop

Some older boys and staff working on a roosting box (terminology?) for the revitalized chicken coop. The chickens are hanging out inside the building, they just got in from Port-au-Prince a week ago and right off the bat have been building up to a solid egg output. I'm told they'll get to as many as a dozen and a half every day if things go well. We're hopeful.

Working Hard

Scenes from the Children's Village:

The boys are working on a garden plot inside the village, a place for them to grow some of their own fruits and vegetables and practice farming techniques. Our long-term volunteer Cameron has been spearheading agricultural projects like these to involve the kids, and by and large the response has been enthusiastic.

Even some of the little ones like De here have rolled their sleeves up and jumped in. Look at that smile!

New Beginnings

This is Samana; she's a new arrival and the sister of twins Hebreaux and Hebreauson. Samana is an adventurous extrovert type, almost the opposite of her reserved, focused little sister Carelene. Despite their differences, the girls stay close and watch out for one another. And despite the years they've spent in some pretty desperate poverty, they're both sweet as can be.

The photo was taken a few weeks ago, at our assembly for the beginning of school. It's meaningful on a lot of levels: for the kids, the beginning of a new academic year; for Samana, the start of a new life at Espwa; for us in cyberspace, the first post of a new blog; and for all at Pwoje Espwa, the start of something new - a time of refocus, renewal, and perseverance through all the challenges we face, financial and otherwise. Please continue to pray for us, and keep us in your thoughts.

New blog

I haven't been able to keep up with updating you on the great things and the not so great things happening here.  In an effort to keep you in the know, a new blog is now open for inspection.  It will be updated more frequently and this one will be phased out.  Put "espwa means hope" in your browser and you'll see it.  Hope you enjoy it.

A few friends wrote to say that they could not find the new blog by doing what I suggested.

Try this: espwameanshope.blogspot.com

Greetings

Dear Friends and all,

I'll admit in the past several months I haven't been on top of updating the old blog. I know many of you have come to trust it as a constant source of news, and I'm sorry to have left you in the dark. There's still plenty going on, little miracles every day, and I've decided to renew my focus on sharing it all with you. I hope you enjoy the new blog site – it's got a fresh look, some new features, support for multiple contributors, and we'll only be adding more from here. So please, subscribe, like, follow; however you'd like to get updates – and remember, “Espwa means HOPE.”

But now I need to ask you to do something for me: keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We're in the thick of a financial crisis; with donations falling short we've implemented some very painful cuts and will need to do more if things keep up in this vein. It's a difficult situation, and if we ever needed help we need it now. So please think about making a donation, and tell a friend about us; tell your friend to tell a friend, better yet, and even consider holding a fundraiser. Could you do that for us, please?

Thank you. You have been a pillar of support, and without your contributions none of this would be possible. I don't ever forget that. May God bless you abundantly.

Fr. Marc

P.S.  Don't be shy about commenting.